Well-cleaner.



C F SMITH.

WELL CLEANER. APPLIOA'I'ION TILBD 0011.28, 190s,

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Ic. F. SMITH. WELL CLEANER.

APPLIGATION FILED 00T. 28, 1909.

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f Toall whom; it may concer/12.:

.. 1TH@ STA'S iP/XTENT @FFME CHARLS F. SMITH, OF HAYNESVILLE, LOUISIANA.

WELL-CLEANER.

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Belit known that l, (lHnnLs. F. SMITH, a citizen ofthe "United States, residing` at llaynesvil.le,"in the parish of Claiborne7 State 'oft Louisiana, have invented certain "i newand useful improve ments in lVelLCleanersgand `Ldo hereby declare the following Vto' bea full, clear, and exact description ot the invcntiom such as will enable others yskilled 'in `the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

*This invention relates to impro vemcnts in well. cleaners and has for its object the provision of a device of that kind provided with a pair of 4scoopsarranged to be inserted intoa well and when so inserted to tilt upwardly when coming into engagement with the bottom of the Well so that the dirt or'other matterthereon will be ren'ioved from the Well. l

One lobject of the invention is the' provision of a means for tripping or folding the' scoops afterthe saine ,engage with the bottom of the well.

Another object is the provision of a nism so that when soft mud or the like is to be taken from the well the scoops will not close `until they have penetrai'icd the soft mnd for aconsiderable distance.

`Viith .thelabove and other objects in view as will more' fully hereinafter appeal', the present invention consists in certain novel details ot construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter' fully described, illustrated `in* the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims;` it being'nnderstood that various chaifiges'in the^form, proportion, size and minor'detailsiot the device .may be made :without departinglrom the spirit or Sacri.-

fcinganyf of the advantages o1 the inven- In f "the (accompanying drawings forming party of the specification :*Figure l is a ver- -tical' sectional view'of a well and showing,

my improved device in elevation and inserted into 'the well.` Fig. 2 is a front ele-A vation ot' the device showing the scoops in folded or engagingposition. Fig. 3 is a sectional.l plan vie-w approximately on the lneBiofFig. 1. Fig. 11 is a vertical sectionalviewon the line lf-4t of Fig. 1.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 28, 1909. Serial No. 525,121.

Patented An l Similar numerals of reference are employed to designate corresponding parts throughout.

. The 'device consists essentially in a pair of operating' arms'designatcd by the numerals 5 and (5. These n'i'embers may be of any preferred length and what will subsequently be termed their upper' end portions are curved, the extremities of said curved sheet metal corresponding in thickness to.

the 'thickness ot the arms Sand 6 and its upper or connected end portion is provided with an opening adapted to aline with similar openings formed in the inner ends of the links 8 and l), the said alining openings receiving a pivot pin 10, by means of which the links are pivotcdtogcther and united to the tripper. lt might here be. stated, when the links are at right-angles to the straight portions ot the arms 8 and 9 their con'ibined lengths will be suflicicnt tohold the straight portions, of said arms, parallel.

The upper or connected end portion of the tripper is designated by the numeral 11 and is oblong butof considerably less length than the lengths of the links. .lhe opposite ends oi the oblong head extend for equal distances on either side of the pivot pin 10, and the upper edge ot this head is provided adjacent the' opposite ends with a pair of oppositely extending:r lugs 12 and 13, which are on opposite sides ot the pivot pin` 10. The function of these lugs is to limit the outward movement of the links 8 and 9 since it can be readily seen when the said links 8 and 9 are at right angles to the straightpportions of the arms 5 and 6 as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 that further outward movement ot the links will be prevented by virtue of the lugs 12 and 13 bearing on the upper sides of said links. The lower side of the oblong head 11 terminates in an elongated shank 14, provided with a longitudi-4 nal slot 15. A toot is provided for the shank and consists of a` fla-t base or bearing surface 1G, from the intermediate portion of which rise a pair of spaced sides 17 and 1S. Thev distance between the sides 17 and 18 corresponds approximately to the thickness of the shank 14 and extending through alining openings in the upper ends of .the sides is a bolt 19. i

By referring now to Fi'g. 4 it will be seen that when the parts are in position the bolt' 19 will extend through the slot 15 and it will be further observed that by tightening the nut 20 on the threaded end of the bolt l the foot will loe-clamped to the shank.y Vith this construction it is evident that the tripper is extensible, that is to say, that by clamping the foot to different points on the shank 14 the scoops to be presently described will close after they have penetrated the soft mitd on the bottom of the well, at various distances. o l

The lscoops are designated by the numerals 21 and 22 and are preferably formed of single pieces of sheet metal or the like bent into the shape `of semicircles. The scoops are closed at one end by walls 23 and formed integral with the outer face of the walls 23 are ribs 24. These ribs 24 extend transverse the walls and are located to one side of the centers of the same. The end edges of the scoops opposite the ends provided with walls 23 incline inwardly as shown lat 25 and the combined lengths of the scoops are somewhat less than the coinbined llengths of the links 8 and 9 so that when the scoops are fold-edas shown in Fig. 2 the inclined edges of the scoops will bear one upon the other. vided with a plurality of openings which are adapted to aline with a plurality of sim.- ilar openings formed adjacent the ends of the links, these alining openings receiving suitable bolts or screws 26. and by means of' the scoops are secured to the links as shown in Fig. 4 and through the final opening of the series of openings are engaged .suitable bolts or screws 2G', by means of which the arms 5 and 6 are pivotally connected to the links, thus pivotally connecting the scoops to the arms as clearly shown inFig. 2, The inclined edges of the scoops are provided with a plurality of outwardly curved inter-A locking teeth 27, these teeth being so positioned that the closingmovement of the scoops which bring their inclined edges to bear one upon the other will'not be prevented.

In the operation of the device `the arms 5 and 6 are spread apart until the links 8 and 9 are at right angles to the straight portions of the arms 5 and 6. When the parts are so positioned lthe scoops 21 and 22 will extend. vertically downward from the links 8 and 9. and the tripper will be located between the said scoops. The-device The ribs 24 are pro-.

eeaeoa is now. 4ready to be lowered into' the well to be cleaned and in order that the device may be readily handled and withdrawn! .from the well a cord or cable 28 is employed and has one end secured in a clevis 29 at the connected ends of the' arms and by means of the cord or cable 28 the deviceis now lowered until the tripper bears on the bot-- tom of the well. Then extremely soft mud is to be taken up it is evident that the trip' per .will penetrate the said mud to a considerable distance before coming into Contact with the hard surface of the bottom. `Then` -the passage of the tripper is thus impeded it is evident that the Weight of .the device now on the, tripper will cause the latter to move upwardly relativeyto the downwardl movement of the arms 5 and 6, whereby the inner connected endsof the links will move upward and at the same time the scoops will. move toward each other and fold as shown in Fig. 2, this folding movement of the scoops lifting and forcing into the scoops all the material in the space between their op posed inn-er faces. The closing movement of the arms and scoops may be augmented by means of a retrattile spring 30, the pposite ends of which are secured to the -upper end portions ofthe arms 5 and 6 so that when the tripper moves upwardly as before described, the action of this spring will draw the arms toward each other as shown y1n Fig. 2.

That is claimed as new, is

1. A well cleaner 'comprising a paii `of pivoted arms, a. pair of links having their inner ends pivotally united and their oute'r. ends pivoted to said" arms and serving to .move the latter relatively to each other, scoops carried by said links and normally held closed, a ground cont-acting tripper iconnected to said links serving to impart closing movement to the latter,v and oppositely extending lugs carried by said tripper engaging said links and limiting the opening movement of said. links. l

2. A well cleaner comprising a pair of spring controlled pivoted arms, a pair of links pivotally united adjacent to their inner ends and having their outer ends pivotedvto said arms and serving to move the latter relatively to each other, scoops carried by said links and normally held closed,an

extensible ground engaging tripper *pivotally connected to said links and serving to impart closing movement thereto, and oppositely extending lugs carried by' the tripper and engaging the links, Vwhereby t`o limit the opening movement of said links..

3. A' well cleanerv comprising a pair of' pivoted arms, a pair of links having their inner ends pivotally united and theirout-er ends pivoted to said armsand -serving to move. the lat-ter relatively to each other,

" scoops carried on the outer ends ofx said links, :in extensible ground contacting ti'ipongzigenblo withfsuid links, whereby to limit per arranged between said scoops and pivotthe opening movement of the links. lo ally connected with Said links by a single In testimony whereof, l zi'f'lix my signapivot pin connnon to the links and ti'ippel', ture, in presence" of two witnesses.

Said trippei sei-ving to impart closing inove- CllAllS l*1 SMITH. ment to the links, said trippel having :1 lVitneSses: head portion formed with oppositely pro- M. A. VINN,

je'ctin'g' lugs on opposite sides of its pivot, XV. L. KuNnmok. 

